The Innocent

Definition

The Innocent is a mythic figure in Kelx cosmology, paired with the Condemned Man and the Magistrate as one of a formative triad. She embodies pure, redeeming inspiration. In the faith's foundational story, an innocent girl is abducted and killed; at the moment of her death, inspiration from her passes into the perpetrator (who becomes the Condemned Man), enabling him to conceive and narrate a world before judgment.

Context and Usage

• Kelx clergy and adherents invoke 'the spirit of the Innocent' as the source of moral impulse. In a northern port during public disturbances, Magister Sark explicitly credited the Innocent with moving him to act on behalf of others and declined personal credit.
• Speech about the Innocent is gendered ('she', 'her') and treats her as a personified source of redeeming creativity.
• Some teaching presents her inspiration as spreading from person to person, encouraging shared responsibility to better the narrated world.

Related Terms

• Condemned Man - the figure who receives the Innocent's inspiration at her death and narrates a world to the Magistrate.
• Magistrate - the judging figure who hears that narration and will one day render a final verdict.
• Kelx - the faith whose iconography and preaching center on this triad.
• Magister Sark - a Kelx magister who publicly attributed his choices to the Innocent's prompting.

Notes

• No physical description is given; the figure is defined by qualities (innocence, purity, redemptive inspiration) rather than appearance.
• Details and emphases vary by ark and sect; ambiguity is preserved in how her inspiration 'moves' people, whether understood literally or metaphorically.